Cascade's John Lewis Receives Medal of Freedom

Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis, was among 15 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom Tuesday.

The medal is presented to individuals "who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."

Other honorees Tuesday included former President George H.W. Bush, billionaire philanthropist Warren Buffet, world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma, poet and author Maya Angelou, basketball great Bill Russell, civil rights activist Sylvia Mendez, artist Jasper Johns, former head of the AFL-CIO, John Sweeney, and the sister of the late President John Kennedy, Jean Kennedy Smith.

Former southwest Atlanta residents who have received the medal included Rev. Joseph Lowery and UN Ambassador and Mayor of Atlanta, Andrew Young. The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who attended Booker T. Washington High School on the city's near west side, also has received the medal.

Lowery, who received the award last year, congratulated Lewis for his accomplishment on WSB-TV Tuesday and said Lewis has “ joined the fraternity of Medal of Freedom recipients."

Lewis, the son of Alabama sharecroppers, turns 71 next month. He rose to power in the civil rights movement as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s and was a keynote speaker before Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963.

Listen to John Lewis describe his experience as a Freedom Rider at http://www.ibiblio.org/sncc/lewis.html

Sources for this story: Congressman John Lewis Web-site; WSB-TV interview with Rev. Joseph B. Lowery, February 15, 2011;  SNCC-People: John Lewis